Bihar results: Five key takeaways of NDA’s sweep and MGB’s wipeout

New Delhi: The ruling NDA government under Nitish Kumar is set to storm back to power with a 200 mark in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, giving a crushing blow to the Mahagathbandhan (MGB).

The trends, slowly settling into results, show a clean sweep for the NDA and ignominious defeat for the RJD-Congress-led alliance.

The trends, which initially showed NDA taking a surge over the MGB, only widened by the day and are now looking at the 200-plus mark. Both the BJP and JD(U) have outperformed their own expectations and are looking at possibly their best-ever performance in the Assembly elections.

BJP is also seen soaring ahead of its ally JD(U), thereby igniting speculations of Nitish Kumar’s ‘replacement’ for the top post. Besides NDA’s roaring success and MGB’s wipe-out, other smaller players are also catching the attention of poll watchers because of unprecedented results.

Here are five key takeaways from the Bihar election results 2025:

Modi-Nitish jodi scripting a new record

The stupendous show in the Bihar elections is the outcome of NDA’s good governance, is how the Prime Minister Narendra Modi assessed the outcome in his first reaction to the election results.

Taking to X, he wrote, “Victory of good governance has been achieved. Victory of the spirit of public welfare has been achieved. Victory of social justice has been achieved.”

Political observers are crediting this thumping victory to the ‘invincible’ appeal and combo of PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar, their camaraderie and their focused approach under the double-engine government.

The Modi-Nitish jodi not only took the NDA juggernaut to victory but also reduced the MGB to its possibly worst-ever performance. Both seen as old warhorses, outflanked the young jodis of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav.

While the OBCs and EBCs rallied behind Nitish Kumar, the series of vigorous campaigns by PM Modi mobilised the youth, women and others in NDA’s favour.

RJD’s rout and Congress’s collapse

Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD leader and the CM candidate of MGB, made a series of promises, including jobs, employment, while slamming the ruling NDA over failure on migration and exodus of youths from Bihar.

His party has, though, received a vote share of 22.79 per cent, more than 2 per cent and 3 per cent more than the BJP and JD(U), respectively, but in terms of numbers, it’s going to be one of the worst performances.

For the Congress, there is more than the poll drubbing. In a direct setback for Rahul Gandhi and his ‘vote chori’ campaign, the party looks to be doing badly in most of the constituencies where the Congress leader campaigned to ‘awaken’ people about the ‘voter fraud’. This didn’t find any resonance on the ground, and the embarrassing results again show its failure.

Chirag Paswan-led LJP’s maiden feat

Chirag Paswan, who played the spoiler for the JD(U) in the 2020 elections, has turned out to be a good prop for the Alliance as he is seen adding close to 20 seats in the NDA’s kitty.

His party, LJP, which contested on 29 constituencies, has been leading on 19 seats, showing a strike rate of 65 per cent. He bargained hard during seat-sharing within the NDA and seems to be proving his mettle with an astounding show.

In 2020, his party won just 1 out of 130 seats that it contested. Many poll analysts had questioned Chirag’s charisma and political acumen to carry forward the legacy of his father, but he has proven them wrong.

AIMIM set to better performance

Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is one of the Opposition parties that wasn’t part of any bloc but has managed to give a stellar performance in the Assembly elections.

The party pulled off a stunner in the 2020 elections by winning 5 seats and looks set to grab the same number of seats this time.

Contesting in the Seemanchal region, with a large share of the Muslim population, the AIMIM contested on 24 Assembly seats and has already won 4 seats as per Election Commission data. The party was also leading in 1 more seat.

Mahagathbandhan, which also placed bets on the region, hoping to capitalise on its vote bank of Yadavs and Muslims, lags in the electoral race.

Jan Suraaj’s ‘dud’ show

Prashant Kishor’s fledgling Jan Suraaj, which promised to bring a new alternative in the electoral dynamics of Bihar, has proved to be a dud. The party is nowhere seen in the picture and is about to draw a blank on its debut.

IANS